(1) Field of the Invention
This invention is concerned with machines for lasting heel seat portions of shoes.
(2) Prior Art
Heel seat lasting machines may comprise a shoe support for supporting, bottom uppermost, a shoe comprising an upper positioning on a last and an insole on the last bottom, a wiper assembly comprising a central wiping member, carried by a support therefor, and two wiper plates, each carried by a wiper carrier, said member being fixed against rotation, while said carriers are mounted for pivotal movement, each about an axis which lies within the confines of the central wiping member, the member and plates presenting a substantially continuous leading edge portion whereby lasting marginal portions of the upper of a shoe supported by the shoe support can be wiped over and pressed against corresponding marginal portions of the insole of such shoe, and fastener-inserting means, associated with the wiper assembly, whereby fasteners can be driven, through a series of apertures formed in the wiping member and wiper plates, adjacent the leading edge portion presented thereby, for securing said wiped-over lasting marginal portions of the upper to the corresponding marginal portions of the insole, two such apertures being disposed side-by-side in the central wiping member, and the fasteners driven through said apertures being the most heelwardly disposed of the fasteners inserted by the fastener-inserting means, wherein advancing means is provided whereby the support for the central wiping member and the wiper carriers can be advanced towards the shoe support, cam means also being provided whereby pivotal movement of the wiper carriers can be effected in response to operation of the advancing means, the position to which the central wiping member is advanced as aforesaid determining the location of insertion of the most heelwardly disposed fastener(s), while the amount of pivotal movement of the wiper carriers, and thus of the wiper plates determines the overall pattern in which the fasteners are inserted.
Such a heel seat lasting machine is described in our U.S. Pat. No. 4,322,863. In this machine, the advancing means is operatively connected to the support for the central wiping member, while the wiper carriers are operatively connected to said support by means of linkage arrangements which, in combination with the cam means, are effective to cause advancing movement only, or advancing and pivotal movement, of the wiper carriers, according to the construction of the cam means, during the operation of the advancing means. It will thus be appreciated that, in the operation of this machine, the pivotal movement of the wiper carriers can only take place while advancing movement of the support for the central wiping member, and thus of the member itself, is taking place.
Thus, in the operation of this machine, where it is desired for example to vary the location in which the two most heelwardly disposed fasteners are to be inserted, the overall pattern in which all the fasteners are inserted is also varied, since such further advancing movement of the central wiping member also affects the amount of pivotal movement of the wiper carriers, and thus of the wiper plates. Conversely, furthermore, if it is desired to vary the overall pattern, then necessarily the location in which the two most heelwardly disposed fasteners are inserted must also be varied, or, in order to prevent such variation of the location, the position of the heel band (which determines the position of the shoe in relation to the wiper assembly) must be correspondingly adjusted.
Whereas in general some degree of tolerance in the aforementioned location is acceptable, in other cases the location of the two most heelwardly disposed fasteners may be considered of significance. On the other hand, the readily adjustable position of the overall pattern of fasteners, which clearly is readily achieved in the operation of the aforementioned machine, is considered to be also desirable.
It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved machine for lasting heel seat portions of shoes, wherein variations of the overall pattern of fasteners to be inserted does not affect the location of the most heelwardly disposed fasteners.